2012 marks the creation of Phinest.

After working both in the Consulting and Engineering sector for 10 years, Nicolas & Julien joined forces to reshape the market. They were willing to re-humanise the Management Consulting sector.

Even if this meant stepping out of their comfort zone, they strongly believed in the creation of a diamond consulting firm.
They imagined a Management Consulting firm in Brussels connecting their partners with the most talented people. Talents who are balanced but also complete; intellectually, emotionally, and in their adaptability skills.

This is how, in February 2012, Julien & Nicolas have founded Phinest.
Phinest aims at bringing human excellence dedicated to the sustainable and meaningful evolution of organisations and their ecosystems. It creates a unique experience where the most talented people and strategic projects magnify together!

Since then, Phinest’s history has been built through several significant milestones.

Our second stop on Phinest’s journey lays the foundations for the company.

Indeed, you will never guess how many coffees Julien Mazuy and Nicolas Touaux had to order in that Greek restaurant before they could settle in a proper workplace on 24, Boulevard du Souverain!

It all started in 2012 when they used to call a table at a Greek restaurant “their office”. They were running their interviews with prospects along with many coffee purchases. Then, they worked in Nicolas’ new house basement. Finally, in 2013, Phinest moved to ICAB, Brussels’ first incubator centre, Rue des Pères Blancs.

After 4 years on the market, and 30 consultants, Phinest launched its first collective certifications. The aim of this kind of training is to achieve continuous improvement for all Phinesters. This also provides them with the greatest tools to work for our clients.

In order to develop for the better and to offer quality services, the consultants followed the AgilePM training. The AgilePM training takes consultants through the 8 Agile principles. They learn the basics of AgilePM, become familiar with the terminology and understand the key principles and critical success factors of Agile projects.

At the end of the sessions, they understand the background of agile in project management. They really perceive the differences compared to traditional or alternative approaches. They are able to apply these processes and techniques and are then really qualified at Foundation level.

This certification was delivered by APMG international. It has established itself as a leading framework and certification for Agile Project Management.

At this point in our journey, we would like to take the time to look back and remember one of our clients. This is one client with whom we felt enormous pride collaborating. We are talking about itsme®.

Since its launch in 2017, the itsme® app has become the widely accepted simple and secure standard for mobile identification and the protection of privacy in the digital world.

Since the early stages of the project in 2013, we have been playing a major role as Strategic Partner. Indeed, we designed the Architecture of the Solution when the project was only a vision. At this stage, everything was to be done.

Phinest has been present in the major milestones of this Belgian success story. We worked on the translation of the business vision into the creation of a tangible master plan. The consultants also participated in the evolution and stabilisation of the solution. Phinesters even facilitated the relationship with the government and worked on the accreditation of the App.

As a result, more than 6 million Belgians are using itsme®. The App was presented by the CEO and the King of Belgium to President Macron as a state-of-the-art solution . The solution was defined as facilitating the life of millions of citizens, organisations and public administrations.

We bet you can all see why we take such pride in remembering this partnership with itsme®!

At Phinest, each Phinester brings

• one’s experiences,
• knowledge,
• and creative ideas

to ensure a constant improvement of the organisation.

The Project Management Office (PMO) is the engine behind Phinest’s unique participative model.

The PMO has been designed to canalise the multitude of great ideas.
It ensures that each Phinester can participate in internal projects that are aligned with one’s interests. The office drives the projects in a structured and organised manner. That way, everyone who wants to can have an impact on Phinest and its evolution.

Internal projects cover a wide array of topics. It goes from Marketing to Learning and Development, from Team Buildings to Commercial touch-points. This provides not only an opportunity to develop a wide set of skills but also to work internally in the organisation.
It can also be the chance to learn proven methodologies such as Agile, Lean 6 Sigma, etc.

We would like to dedicate this year 2020 to a beautiful and fruitful relationship that inspires us.

Phinest decided then to partner with D-Sight. It specialises in decision support software and associated services in the domains of project prioritisation, supplier selection and collaborative decision-making.

By combining forces, Phinest offers a solution that clients can benefit from.
This Project Portfolio Management software enriches their maturity in project selection, portfolio dash-boarding and resources management.

Our top success stories include notably two actors in the pharmaceutical sector and one in the car manufacturing industry.

This type of meaningful relationship is what makes us want to continue to drive growth inside and outside our company.

In 2021, we received the visit of Mathieu Michel, our Secretary of State for Digitalisation.

He took time to discover and emphasise local actors who are important, innovative, creative and original.

It was an honour to meet him and we thank him for this great spotlight.

At this step of Phinest story, it was time to dedicate a Team to the Marketing. The energy deployed has been focused on three streams.

Marketing Basics is responsible for defining a governance, the branding and the strategy.

The Events Team organises all the events aiming at highlighting who Phinest is.
This means internal events and external events, going from the team building to the public conference.

Internally called SoMe, the third stream is responsible for Social Media.
They post on Linkedin and Instagram to ensure the online visibility of Phinest.

Since 2022, we joined d²X Expertise, the ideal partner to evolve, share and create synergies based on common values. We are now part of an ambitious, European business project that will support the development of both our clients and our employees.

Our vision, “Human excellence dedicated to the sustainable development of organisations and their ecosystems”, entered a new dimension and is becoming even more meaningful.

In 2022, Phinest created a dedicated team for CSR projects.

Aware that forests play a crucial role against climate change and willing to act locally, Phinest joined the impacting companies.
This first CSR initiative happened in collaboration with the Société Royale Forestière de Belgique (SRFB).

« 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑠 20 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤 (𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏)”, Nicolas Touaux, founder.

In 2023, Phinest adopted Agora, the intranet of d²X Expertise.

Agora is an internal platform for Phinesters by Phinesters.

Its goal is to become a central hub for collaboration, communication, and innovation.

At Phinest, we consider Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be more than just a matter of good practices and communication. It is an essential part of our business strategy and informs all our projects. Our commitment to CSR is supported by our management and is reflected in our corporate culture. This means in our strategic choices, management style, values and approach to collaborating and interacting with colleagues and external stakeholders.

We believe that businesses have a responsibility to operate in an ethical, sustainable and socially responsible manner. That is why we are proud to be certified by EcoVadis, a leading provider of CSR assessments and ratings for companies. They evaluate companies based on their performance across four pillars of CSR: sustainability, ethics, social and environmental factors. We recognise the importance of performing well across all four areas and are proud to have received a Silver Medal from EcoVadis.